The invention relates to a low voltage detection stick for non-contacting detection of voltage.
Electrical voltage sticks of a contacting or non-contacting type are known in the art. The prior art voltage sticks sometimes include a metal casing that may be coated with an electrically insulative material. One drawback of the prior art voltage sticks is that a scratch in the nonconducting coating on the metal casing may cause a harmful shock if a naked wire is inadvertently contacted.
Another drawback of the prior art voltage sticks is that they sometimes have sensors and integrated circuits disposed within a probe tip that is bonded to the stick. This often makes the voltage stick unnecessarily fragile and relatively difficult to repair. Yet another drawback of the prior art voltage sticks is that they are not reliably sensitive to voltage ranges below 50 VAC and provide poor selectivity to determine which wire is carrying a current.
The voltage stick of the present invention comprises an elongate and hollow casing member. A tip is attached to the casing member and has a first leg and a second leg protruding outwardly from the tip. A cavity is defined between the legs. An antenna is disposed within the casing member for sensing a voltage and transmitting a detection signal when an electrically conductive meter is disposed in the cavity. An antenna extension is removably attachable within the cavity for increasing the sensitivity of the antenna.